Abstract

Background: Major adverse cardiac events (MACE) are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). Cirrhotic cardiomyopathy (CCM) is relatively common and a source of MACE in patients after OLT. Initial diagnostic criteria based on transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) were described in 2005 and revised in 2019 with echocardiographic advancements (Table 1). We sought to identify CCM related predictors of MACE at 13 months post-OLT. Methods: This is a retrospective study of adult patients who underwent OLT between 2009-2019. All patients had TTE’s within one year pre-OLT and one month to 13 months post-OLT. We excluded TTE’s within one-month post-OLT to reduce contributions from stress cardiomyopathy. Patients with a left ventricular ejection fraction less than 50% pre-OLT were excluded. MACE was defined as death, MI, CHF hospitalization, or cardiac arrest. Multivariable Cox regression was used to identify independent predictors of MACE. Results: Of 568 OLT patients screened, 131 met inclusion criteria for this study. There were 103 and 23 patients who met 2005 and 2019 criteria, respectively. During the 13 month follow up period, 42 patients had MACE. Compared to those without MACE, patients with MACE had more ascites (93 vs 70%, p 0.003), hepatorenal syndrome (HRS) (17 vs 4%, p 0.019), delayed OLT >10 days after admission (19 vs 7%, p 0.033), pre-OLT CCM per 2005 criteria (90% vs 73%, p 0.023), and lower diastolic blood pressure (60.81 vs 66.88, p 0.014). There was no difference in pre-OLT CCM per 2019 criteria (19 vs 17%, p 0.758) or MELD-Na score (21.24 vs 19.40, p 0.166). In multi-variable cox regression analysis adjusted for diastolic blood pressure, HRS, ascites, and OLT timing during admission, CCM per 2005 criteria remained significant as seen in Figure 1 (Hazard Ratio = 3, p 0.038). Conclusion: CCM per 2005 criteria is an independent predictor of MACE at 13 months post-OLT while CCM per 2019 criteria is not.

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